GAZETTELIVE users have responded angrily to kids as young as 13 being handed free condoms and chlamydia testing kits at venues across Teesside.

As reported in the Evening Gazette this week NHS Middlesbrough’s Life Store is using the run-up to Valentine’s Day - which coincides with National Contraceptive Awareness Week - to promote its C:Card scheme.

The scheme enables youngsters aged from 13 to 25 to get free condoms and confidential sexual health advice at venues across the NHS Tees areas of Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar and Cleveland and Hartlepool.

According to Teesside’s Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), 20% of under-16s in Middlesbrough are sexually active.

However, commentators on our gazettelive website have responded with “despair” describing the scheme as “nonsense.”

In a Gazettelive poll, 70% of respondents said “no” to giving children as young as 13 contraception.

One respondent said: “I have to say I disagree with this for 13-15-year-olds.

“It’s encouraging them thinking they are ‘allowed’ to have sex at that age as people give them free stuff for doing it.

“Good to prevent things like pregnancies and STIs but when I was 13 years old, I just wanted to play with my friends and go to school, not think about sex, what I might catch or if I was going to be a mum.”

Dennis1 said: “What will the parents be doing or saying while this is all going on?

“Leave it to the state or authorities to take over the parents’ duty again.

“I know not all parents are irresponsible but it is increasing the amount who don’t give a damn about their children as long as someone else takes charge.”

Respondent Honda claimed other European countries don’t have these schemes, yet don’t have the “scourge” of teenage pregnancies we do. “What these people are actually doing is giving the go-ahead to children to treat sexual intercourse as a game. They are storing up trouble for future generations.”

However, there was some support for the scheme with one commentator writing: “Right or wrong is not the point, but kids of this age are actively engaged in sexual activity.

“Any move to stop unwanted pregnancy should be welcomed along with a lecture when they get them.”

Norton 84 also defended the C:Card scheme, saying it is not just about “giving condoms to kids”.

Norton wrote: “C:Card practitioners are trained to discuss issues around sexual health with young people such as risks of pregnancy, STIs as well as using ‘leave it till later’ messages to encourage young people to delay having sex if possible until they are emotionally, physically (not to mention legally) ready.

“They also follow guidelines around encouraging young people to discuss their feelings around sex with their parents/carers.

“I agree it is far from ideal when young people are becoming sexually active before they are ready but I would suggest there are more reasons for this than simply the availability of ‘free sex kits for kids’.”